"We have hundreds of outstanding sites of cultural heritage that require urgent financial aid in order to preserve them and open them up as new cultural spaces for traditional communities, development of folk art centers, various cultural institutions," Varnaitė said during Thursday's discussion about investment of the 2014-2020 European Union (EU) aid money in Lithuania's culture.
In her words, the EU support could be the last chance of preserving the crumbling heritage: "When it comes to EU money, it would be the last chance, a 'now or never' opportunity, as we will definitely have no such opportunity in the future."
In mid-April, Culture Minister Šarūnas Birutis expressed concern over the possibility that the 2014-2020 financial perspective may again leave culture without support of EU structural funds.
The 2014–2020 EU structural support commission rejected the Culture Ministry's proposal to earmark about 9 percent of all EU financial support to culture, a decision was made to leave the current 4-percent margin.
In Birutis' words, 9 percent of 2.5 billion litas (EUR 724.6m) is the minimum sum culture needs.
For now, the Culture Ministry is not authorized to administer EU structural funds, as EU money for heritage and cultural sites – manor houses, churches, museums, etc. - is distributed by the Ministry of Economy.
